Some people love salad and scarf down the veggies with cries of “Yum!” Others of us think salad is something to eat salad dressing on. That’s not good, because salad dressing tends to be heavily laden with bad stuff, like high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and, oh yes, calories. So I was delighted to come across a homemade ranch dressing that is high in protein and low glycemic. The only trouble was that it called for a pre-prepared ranch dressing seasoning mix. These mixes are convenient, but tend to have ingredients we don’t want, like MSG, maltodextrin, and unpronounceable stuff. (If you can’t pronounce it, think twice before you eat it!) But not to worry! I also found a recipe for a homemade version of the mix. Here is the seasoning recipe, followed by the dressing recipe.

Ranch dressing mix:

2 Tbsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. dried dill

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. pepper

Mix those together and you are ready for the dressing recipe:

1 Cup Cottage Cheese

3-4 tsp. Ranch Dressing mix

1/4 C. water (or milk if you prefer) add more water if the consistency is too thick for your liking.

Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth

This has around 50 calories per 1/4 cup as opposed to 150 in two TBSP. of the bottled variety. Cottage cheese has a glycemic index of 0 — so this looks all good. Pour it on your veggies and enjoy!